Courant: "Cap blew off a cylinder because of too much water pressure"

The "Clear Creek Courant" has a new article posted about the latest loop shutdown. Here's the link: Clear Creek Courant: Loop shuts down again after mechanical problem

The article says:

Quote

The Georgetown Loop Railroad broke down once again Wednesday after the cap blew off a cylinder because of too much water pressure.

I'll let more knowledgable parties comment on this "too much water pressure" explanation. However, I am blown away by the CHS's latest excuse, which includes: "These trains historically made four or five trips a month, and we are asking it to do five trips a day."

Wow. I'm stunned that the caretaker of a historical site could be so incorrect about a basic historic fact regarding the historical site they are responsible for. Worse, consider some basic math: On today's Georgetown Loop, the "trips" are a whole 8 miles long... 4 miles up and 4 miles down. Multiplying the distance per trip by the number of trips a day gives:

(8 miles a trip) x (5 trips a day) === 40 miles a day.

Hmmm. 40 miles a day is less than the 64 miles a C&TS engine runs each day between Osier and Chama; that 64 mile length came be confirmed by checking out the The Cumbres & Toltec Scenic Railroad FAQ If I'm not mistaken, it was only three summers ago when the C&TS kept itself going while only having one running locomotive.

Worse, 40 miles a day is less than half the mileage that a Durango & Silverton locomotive does in a day. Per the Durango & Silverton Narrow Gauge Railroad FAQ, D&SNG trains take "3 1/2 hours to travel the 45 miles from Durango to Silverton." Those forty-file miles are one-way, so a D&SNG locomotive runs 90 miles a day when it runs from Durango to Silverton and return.

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Chris Webster
[www.speakeasy.org]